Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 3.3
॥
Devanāgarī
विश्वतश्चक्षुर् उत विश्वतोमुखो विश्वतोबाहुर् उत विश्वतस्पात् ।
सं बाहुभ्यां धमति सं पतत्रैर् द्यावाभूमी जनयन् देव एकः
Transliteration (IAST)
viśvataścakṣur uta viśvatomukho viśvatobāhur uta viśvataspāt /
saṃ bāhubhyāṃ dhamati saṃ patatrair dyāvābhūmī janayan deva ekaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विश्वतःचक्षुःviśvataḥcakṣuḥeyes everywhere; whose eyes are on all sides
उतutaand; as well as
विश्वतःमुखःviśvataḥmukhaḥfaces everywhere; whose faces are on all sides
विश्वतःबाहुःviśvataḥbāhuḥarms everywhere; whose arms are on all sides
उतutaand; as well as
विश्वतःपात्viśvataḥpātfeet everywhere; whose feet are on all sides
सं बाहुभ्याम् धमतिsaṃ bāhubhyām dhamatiHe fuses with His arms; He blows and joins with His arms
सं पतत्रैःsaṃ patatraiḥand with wings; together with the bellows-wings
द्यावाभूमीdyāvābhūmīheaven and earth; the two — sky and earth
जनयन्janayanbegetting; bringing forth
देवः एकःdevaḥ ekaḥthe one God; God alone
Translation
His eyes are everywhere and His faces everywhere, His arms everywhere and His feet everywhere. Begetting heaven and earth, the one God fuses them with His arms and with wings.
Version
861586dce77e · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
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The mantra comes from a Vedic hymn to Viśvakarman, the All-maker, and the smell of the forge has stayed in it. The verb dhamati means "to blow up a fire, to smelt": God forges the universe like a smith working the bellows. And the wings are those very bellows, the smith's wings — and at the same time a hint at the Maker's winged nature.
The phrase "eyes, faces, arms, feet everywhere" will later become a commonplace: the Gītā will repeat it in describing the all-pervading One. Its sense is double. It means that there is no side from which God does not see and act: there is no corner of the world His eye does not reach. And it also warns that the image here describes not shape but reach: not "He has many arms" but "His arm is everywhere".
Vaiṣṇava Vedānta treats this passage carefully so that no misunderstanding arises: "arms and feet everywhere" says that the whole power is present everywhere, but does not cancel His manifesting Himself in a definite form; being everywhere and having a form do not quarrel, since His body is not material.
And a last detail: heaven and earth are not merely created but "fused" — joined, fitted to one another. The world is described not as a heap of things but as a fitted work.